What does it mean to grow followers of Jesus?
Good question… I remember teaching in a NSW department school where students chatted to me at lunchtime and were asking me questions about my faith. I said, “I’m a follower of Jesus” and a student piped up and said, “What does that even mean!?”
That’s where our core values help to fill out our vision statement from above so we will be drilling into them over the next three weeks in our preaching series and through our Gospel Communities in DNA.
However, a quick way to intro our core values is to think of a fountain! Yes, that’s right, a fountain! A fountain was a way that many puritan Christian leaders used to consider God’s love to the world. God, in his abundant love, sent his son to the world. This love then spills into our hearts and so fills us that we can’t help but see that love flow into the lives of those around us.
Interestingly, this is very Johannine (a nerdy word for the theological reflections of John, one of Jesus’s
disciples.) Do you know the passage from 1 John 4 in explaining Gods love – not that we loved God, but he loved us (you can read it more closely in 1 John 4:8-12). Then, famously in John 13, as Jesus washes his disciples’ feet, he makes the profound statement that by followers’ of Jesus love for each other, the world will know that we are his disciples.
Finally, even more famously, in John 3:16 it reveals God’s great love for the world, by giving the world his son, so they might come and find life. This fountain feeds our core values. We experience the deep love of God in our life (Growing in love for God: Worship). This love fills our lives, as we love our Christian brothers and sisters (Growing love for each other Community). Then finally we invite an unbelieving world to see this love in action through our community (Growing in love for the world Mission).
Now I could imagine you might think what if other people, different to the disciple John, saw things differently? Ah, that’s the beauty of the tapestry of the Bible! So many beautiful strands weaving through God’s word, expressing the same story. You will see that in the amount of passages that are included in the Core Values DNA studies for the series – there are lots! Even, this weekend as we begin the series in Growing love for God: Worship, we will not be in John’s gospel (or any of his letters). In fact, we will start in the whole book of Colossians as Ritchie kick starts the series.
We are super excited about this series and hope to see our church family get on board, as we seek to grow followers of Jesus by growing in our love for God (worship), growing in our love for each
other (community) and growing in our love for he world (mission).
To finish I will leave you with that amazing account of the blossoming church in Acts 2:42-47 to see if you can spot worship, community and mission. See how you go!
42 They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. 43 Everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles. 44 All the believers were together and had everything in common. 45 They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need. 46 Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, 47 praising God and enjoying the favour of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved. Acts 2:42-47
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